Jet application of textile finish to moving threadlines

ABSTRACT

An air jet of the type used to apply torque to a moving threadline is used as an applicator for liquid finish. The liquid is supplied to the yarn passage of the jet at a controlled rate and the yarn is contacted around its periphery by the liquid as the yarn passes through the jet.

United States Patent [191 Waldkirch Jan. 8, 1974 [54] JET APPLICATION OF TEXTILE FINISH TO 2,938,257 5/1960 Bauer 28/ 1.4 MOVING THREADLINES 3,186,155 6/1965 Breen et al. 57/157 F X [75] Inventor: Richard B. Waldkirch, Camden, FOREIGN PATENTS 0R APPLICATIONS 406,991 11/1967 Australia 28/72.14 [73] Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and C W'l t D 1. ompany l mmg on e Primary Examiner-John Petrakes Filed; y 1971 Attorney--Howard P. West, Jr. [21] Appl. No.: 146,876

52 us. c1. 57/157 F, 28/72.l2, 28/75, [57] ABSTRACT et of the type used to apply torque to a movmg [51] III. Cl D0! threadline is used s an applicator f q -fi i Ifield of Search..., B, F, The is pp to the y f the j at 5 7/ 773; 5 76 59 a controlled rate and the yarn is contacted around its h b th 1' (1 th th h th [56] References Cited 5;? ery y e as y passes mug e UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,009,309 11/1961 Breen et al 57/34 B X 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures ngmmm 81974 FIG.

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INVENTOR RICHARD BERNHARDT WALDKIRCH ATTORNEY BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to the manufacture of synthetic fibers and, more particularly, to an improved method for applying liquid textile finish to mul tifilament yarns.

In the manufacture of synthetic textile yarns, it is common practice to apply to the textile threadlines a composition of chemical ingredients in liquid form for the purpose of improving the handling performance of the yarns in subsequent textile operations. One objective in this operation is to coat the filaments of ayarn bundle evenly with the finish liquid so that uniformity in performance is achieved in operations such as knitting, weaving and tufting used in preparing fabrics or other textile products.

Conventionally, these textile finishes are applied by advancing the running yarn in contact with the surface of a roll rotated in a liquid reservoir containing the desired finish. Bulked or textured yarns are more difficult to coatevenly because their crimped configuration precludes continuous sliding contact of individual vfilaments on a surface wetted by finish and, as an alternative, spraying a liquid mist onto the moving threadline has provided somewhat improved finish application, but spraying involved added waste of finish and contamination of processing equipment unless the spraying operation is conducted in a chamber to contain, control, drain and return excess finish to a suitable reservoir.

This invention has as an object a method of finish application which permits; more uniform coating of yarn filaments while minimizing waste of finish fluid and excessive fouling of equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION known type such as an air jet used to exert a torque on.

a moving threadline to false twist textile yarns. In its simplest embodiment, the fluid yet twister comprises a metal block having a tubular yarn passage which is a smooth, curved, concave surface in combination with one fluid conduit positioned to direct a stream of liquid finish circumferentially about the inner periphery of the curved, concave surface so that the yarn as it passes through the jet is contacted aroundits periphery by the liquid. Such jets are disclosed in FIGS. 5 and 6 of U. S. Pat. No. 3,009,309. These jets show multiple fluid conduits.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a schematic drawingshowing use of the subject applicator in a yarn bulking operation.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a preferred finish applicator of the invention.

FIG. 3 is an elevation taken along 3-3 of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The process chosen for purposes of illustration in FIG. 1 includes a yarn 12 being forwarded at a constant speed by rolls 10 from a source not shown through yarn guides 14 and through the yarn passageway 16 of the jet bulking device 18. In jet 18, the threadline 12 is subjected to the bulking action of a hot fluid directed through passageway 20. The hot fluid exhausts with the yarn against a rotating drum 24 having a perforated surface on which the yarn cools to set the crimp. From the drum, the bulky yarn 22 passes through guide 26 to a pair of driven forwarding rolls 28 running at a speed which provides the desired take up rate to the yarn in the bulking operation. Bulky yarns of this type are disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,186,155 to Breen and Lauterbach.'The yarn from the rolls 28 then passes axially through jet finish applicator30 into which a metered amount of liquid finish is pumped through fluid inlet pipe 32 in a continuous liquid stream from source 31 by means of gear pump 33. Coating of the crimped filaments is accomplished in the yarn passage of the jet finish applicator 30. .The yarn is then directed through fixed guide 34 and traversing guide 35 onto rotating core 36 to form yarn package 38. The ratio of the winding speed of the yarn onto package 38 to the rate of flow of the finish as supplied by pump 33 is maintained substantially constant. This may be accomplished in various ways known in the art for proportionally controlling the speed of the pump, forwarding rolls and windup to maintain such a constant ratio.

The finish applicator 30 may have a unitary construction or it may be made of a plurality of parts held rigidly together when in normal operation. A preferred embodiment comprises a flat plate cover hingedly and lockably attached to a mating body such as that shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. The body 50 and cover 40 are modified so that at their interface is formed an open right circular cylindrical chamber 42 serving as a yarn passage, the longitudinal axis of which is parallel tothe interface such that the chamber lies partially in each member. A fluid conduit46 leading from pipe 32 forms a passage extending through the body and intercepts the yarn chamber 42 tangentially. This conduit may be formed in a two-piece center plate 52, 52a held rigidly between end plates 54, 56 by bolts 58. Suitable indexing pins 60 may be used to insure precise assembly. Frusto-conical entrance and exit sections 44 may be provided as disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,009,309, FIG. 5. With conical entrances and exits to the yarn passage, alignment of the entering and exiting threadline with the axis of the yarn passage is less critical the entrance and exit serving a guiding function.

The size of the yarn passage 42 in jet finish applicator 30 may be selected to suit yarns of varying denier. For example, a jet with a yarn passage of 0.031 inch diameter has been found to be satisfactory for bulked yarns between about 750 denier and 1,300 denier and one of 0.062 inch is suitable for crimped yarns having deniers ranging from 1,300 to 3,700 denier. Access to the yarn passage to permit easier stringup maybe provided by having the jet constructed in two pieces which may be clamped or hinged together in a known manner, such as shown in U. S. Pat. No. 2,938,257. The principles disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,006,137 may also be used to provide on-the-run stringup of the threadline.

The following example illustrates an embodiment of the invention but is not intended to be limitative.

EXAMPLE a. Continuous filament polyamide yarn of 2120 denier and having 136 filaments is crimped by the fluid bulking procedure of FIG. 1 wich results in crimped yarn of the type disclosed in U. S. Pat. No. 3,186,155. The yarn has a denier of 2,600 after winding. After crimping, the yarn is passed from driven takeup rolls at 1,950 yards per minute (ypm) into the yarn passageway of a fluid jet device of the type shown 11 FIG. 2 having a cylindrical yarn passage 1 16 inch (0.062 inch) in diameter and a length of inch. Textile finish comprising 24.6 parts of sulfated peanut oil, 3.2 parts of 45 percent aqueous solution of KOH, 4.9 parts of trethanolamine, 53 parts mineral oil, 2.1 parts diethylene glycol and 12.2 parts oleic acid is diluted 1 part finish to 4 parts water and is pumped at a flow rate of 0.4 gallon per hour (gph) into the fluid passageway of the jet. The fluid passageway is rectangular measuring 0.011 inch by 0.125 inch. Measurements made on the yarn which is wound up at 2,028 yards per minute indicated that the tension on the running threadline is 350 grams. The yarn on the package has a relatively even coating of 0.7 percent by weight of the textile finish agent. This yarn is processed into carpet fabrics by tufting. No problems associated with backwinding or tufting operations were encountered.

b. For comparison, the procedure of (a) above is modified by spraying the same liquid finish composition from a pneumatic spraying nozzle placed just after the bulking jet at a rate of 0.67 gallon per hour to obtain a comparable amount of finish on the yarn. The spraying rate represents an increase in the amount of finish handled of 60 percent over that by jet application. The extra finish contaminates the processing equipment and must be contained and returned to a finish reservoir.

In practice, it has been found that this process results in a more uniform finish application from position-toposition and from doff-to-doff. Accordingly, overall quality of the product is improved and waste of finish is reduced.

There is no necessity of providing an enclosed containment chest as required in a spraying application, and the large reduction in the amount of finish used reduces processing costs. Elimination of excess finish precludes problems of contamination as, for example, plugged chest drains and equipment for recycling of finish is not needed.

The fluid conduit or passage 46 may be rectangular or round although in the preferred embodiment it is rectangular. If a round conduit is used, it may be positioned so that its longitudinal axis is not at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the yarn passageway 42.

I claim:

1. A method for applying a liquid textile finish to a moving yarn comprising: supplying a liquid textile finish in a continuous stream to a through passage in a jet, said liquid textile finish being supplied at a controlled rate in a path substantially perpendicular and tangential to said passage; forwarding said yarn through said passage at a controlled speed under a tension of about 350 grams; and contacting the periphery of said yarn with said finish as it passes through said passage.

2. The method as defined in claim 1, said passage having a substantially vertical orientation.

3. The method as defined in claim l,'the ratio of said speed and said rate being maintained substantially constant. 

1. A method for applying a liquid textile finish to a moving yarn comprising: supplying a liquid textile finish in a continuous stream to a through passage in a jet, said liquid textile finish being supplied at a controlled rate in a path substantially perpendicular and tangential to said passage; forwarding said yarn through said passage at a controlled speed under a tension of about 350 grams; and contacting the periphery of said yarn with said finish as it passes through said passage.
 2. The method as defined in claim 1, said passage having a substantially vertical orientation.
 3. The method as defined in claim 1, the ratio of said speed and said rate being maintained substantially constant. 